So we had our discussion about stash obsession and acquisition and our crazy need to have more stash than we could ever possibly stitch. But, in addition to that obsessive stockpiling of cross stitch supplies I am also very protective of my stash.
There are three things you don’t mess with me on – my children, my computer, and my stitching stash.
I remember when we were moving to Virginia from Pennsylvania (gosh, nearly 8 years ago) and I had carefully put everything into a three drawer Rubbermaid tower and taped the drawers shut. The movers tried to load it onto the truck and I probably frightened the guy when I snatched it away from him and said, “Oh no no, that goes in the van with us.” And I hurriedly stuffed it in the back of the van and *locked* it. There were only a few things in our vehicle with us on that trip, some immediate need luggage for everyone, my computer, and my stash. Everything else went onto the moving truck.
When we get a hurricane warning I always tell the kids “Anything you wouldn’t want to get wet, put up high in case we flood,” and then I immediately move my stash. I’ve been known to take my entire stash with me on vacation more than once, back when it was in that three drawer Rubbermaid and I could just put the whole thing in the trunk of the van. It’s grown a bit since then and it’s not exactly portable anymore, so it stays at a home. When we went to Disney World in 2006 I took three large cross stitch projects and two small ones with me – and I didn’t stitch a single stitch while we were there -LOL-
How protective of your stitching stash are YOU? Leave a comment below and let us know your most stash protective moment!
Happy Stitching!
Well I’m not that protective, the only thing I want is that it’s not touched when I’m not around, that’s all.
If you want to stay alive that is…..:))
I am not that protective of my stash… until I can’t find something and then I freak out and will not stop looking until I find whatever it is. I was really bad after my major move last August, trying to find one specific pattern in huge piles of Rubbermaid bins. I did, however, feel much better when I managed to narrow it down to about 5 bins full. Then it was a matter of hours until I located the elusive pattern! I always photocopy new patterns a few times so I have some working copies (probably way more than I need but hey… better to have too many than something missing! So it’s all these copies that account for a lot of the volume. And of course even copying a couple of HAED patterns can take a ton of paper! So I don’t feel the need to be protective of my stash unless someone is looking for paper to get the fire going or whatever. Then I turn into mama grizzly lol!
I bite when someone messes up with my pinking shears and needles:) i also go berserk when people go close to the stash with scissors saying: “oh, I just pinch a bit of that fabric, do you mind, dear?” grrr…;)
I could talk all day about how no one touches my scissors! There are “my scissors” and there are “house scissors” for anyone else.
Several years ago my husband used my embroidery scissors to cut open popsicles for the kids. POPSICLES! I may have had a small nervous breakdown that day, but no one has touched my scissors since then.
The scissors are the hardest to keep out of ‘the wrong hands’ 🙂 My husband only finally accepted not touching my scissors when I told him how much I spend on those special embroidery scissors (I may have upped the price a bit), now he leaves ‘my scissors’ alone and actually looks for a cheap pair when he need a pair of scissors.
The moral of this story and all the others is that ‘they’ are trainable 🙂
I’ve always “trained” everyone NOT TO USE *MY* SCISSORS… not my sewing scissors, not my embroidery scissors. I have plenty of cheap pairs of scissors scattered throughout the house… kitchen, bathroom, garage, basement, office desk, etc. that there’s no reason for anyone to touch mine. LOL
For the most part, I have my stash organized in two separate containers. One in a plastic drawer tower I keep in my closet and, in an overnight bag I keep in my room. Then, there’s the huge three ring binders in the book case in the hall, stuffed with designs. The overnight bag in my room is the one I would grab in case of a fire. It has all the kits and designs I want to make for myself. I put that together when I decided to quit giving my work away and stitch only for myself. I’m divorced so I don’t have anyone to threaten with great bodily injury if they even get near my stash. However, my beloved daughter who I cherish more than life itself, is not allowed near my stash!!!
Alicja: you’re funny!!!
Loretta: your article made me laugh so hard, I had tears!!! Oh, and thank you for mentioning that I now have a website!!!
So what if the people who get near our stash think we’re pscyho?!! We’re just EXTRREMELY protective of what’s important to us!!!
My husband would call your overnight bag full of supplies your stitching “bug-out bag” — he has been watching way too many episodes of Doomsday Preppers lately.
So true :)) I have a big cabinet to store all my stash and I lock it. Nobody else should be able to access that 😛 I’m currently on a long stay in Belgium (I’m from Indonesia) and I bring 6 meters of 11ct and 800 skeins of thread *_*
So true :)) I have a big cabinet to store all my stash and I lock it. Nobody else should be able to access that 😛 I’m currently on a long stay in Belgium (I’m from Indonesia) and I bring 6 meters of 11ct and 800 skeins of thread *_*
I love that you lock up your stash! That’s one way to make sure no one is fondling the fabric and threads 😉
I have a very large transparent container-truck that is always kept closed and under the entertainment center. No one has entry except me. If I have a guest who compliments on the colorful items that can be seen through the container and expects for me to get up and play show-and-tell, I simply say, ‘Thank you’, blink, and do not budge.
Glad to see your kids were first on your list of 3 things…lol!
I’m also very protective of my stash. I could probably tell you every item that’s in it. I even have things I “hide” for when the girls come to my house to stitch and want to go through all my fabrics and stuff because I don’t want them to see it and want to buy it…lol!
I have two stashes that are not to be touched: my stitching stash and my reading stash. I am a single mom of 3 boys, though they would rather be called men now that they are grown{whatever}. Through their childhood they knew that my wrath would fall heavily (okay maybe it was more like hysterical screeching) if either stash was touched. I have dressers full of fabric, containers full of supplies, shelves full of books, containers full of books; you probably get the drift. Fellow stitchers it is just a fact of life that our stashes deserve the love and attention we give it, as do any of our family members who understand our “my precious” attitudes towards our stash.
Wow, I had to do a double take on your reply cause I didn’t remember replying and it sounded just like me right down to the single mom of 3 boys (“men”). I used to have people comment on how brave I was to leave my stitching and reading out where my boys could get it. The reality was men (even small boys) hate the sound of screeching and learn quickly that it is easier just to leave that stuff alone. Now all who know me understand that I love my stashes, these are my only vices, and it makes for a much happier household to leave them alone. And yes I am passing on the leave it alone unless I said you could handle it tradition to all of the grands and the stitching tradition to my granddaughter. Okay, she’s five, so maybe it’s more stitch playing.
I love cross-stitching and have enjoyed entering them in national competitions too.!!!!!!
Well, I have probably more stash than I can ever use, but for a little perspective on the subject, my mother recently passed away. She left a small stash, that none of us could use. It ended up in the estate sale and most of it was given away for free. Use your stash now. Stitch it up, give it away, share it far and wide. Use it to bring joy to people in the here and now, since you can’t take it with you, and once you are gone, it just becomes stuff. Useless stuff. Use it now!
To Jan and her Mother’s stash. My Mom left lots of WIPs. Unfortunately none of the directions, threads, and project were together. So projects that could have been finished had no threads or directions. Moral: keep it all together. Better yet make notations on chart who/what something was made for.
I had a Kool-Aid moment. Someone, known only as my husband, put his cherry Kool-Aid down right next to WIP on my desk. Now I couldn’t say a word or it would accidentally be spilled. After he picked up his drink, the riot act was shouted and now no food or drink is put near my stash.
Protective, not me. I am so protective of my stash it has its own room! I have given strict instructions that if anything happens to me my stash goes to my best friend Laura.